Ford Said to Add 4-Cylinder Engine Output to Ohio Plant

Ford Motor Co. is hiring in the U.S., where auto sales climbed last year by the most since 1984, and retrenching in Europe, where new-vehicle registrations hit a 17-year low in 2012. Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/Bloomberg

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., the second-largest
U.S. automaker, plans to begin making in Ohio a small four-cylinder engine that it builds in Spain, according to a person
familiar with the matter.

Ford’s move to build the 2-liter engine at its factory in
Brook Park, Ohio, eventually will create as many as 750 jobs,
said the person, who asked not to be identified ahead of an
announcement tomorrow. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company has
been building the engine in Valencia, Spain. Kristina Adamski, a
Ford spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally revived Ford by
overhauling the company’s lineup and boosting the fuel
efficiency of models such as the Focus compact car. Ford is
hiring in the U.S., where auto sales climbed last year by the
most since 1984, and retrenching in Europe, where new-vehicle
registrations hit a 17-year low in 2012.

“You have to build where the market is,” Mike Gammella,
president of UAW Local 1250, which represents the Ohio plant’s
1,065 hourly workers, said today in a telephone interview.
“We’re seeing the outsourcing craze come back around.
Outsourcing wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.”

Ford joins companies including Apple Inc. in reversing
shifts in manufacturing to overseas markets because of lower
labor costs. Apple last year year pledged to invest in making
Mac computers in the U.S. Since 2007, the United Auto Workers
has agreed to let automakers hire new workers who forgo
traditional retiree health care and pensions as well as work for
lower wages than more senior employees in exchange for jobs that
would have gone to other markets.

Manufacturing Shift

The U.S. has gained 490,000 manufacturing jobs since
February 2010, when factory employment slumped to a seven-decade
low. The shift of jobs back to the U.S. from China may
contribute to 2 million to 3 million new jobs by the end of the
decade, Boston Consulting Group said in a March 2012 report.

“We’ve become the low-cost producer and the highest-quality producer,” Gammella said.

The Valencia plant’s 2-liter EcoBoost engines are used in
the company’s Focus, Explorer, Edge and Fusion models, according
to Ford’s website. The Ohio plant produces the 3.5-liter V-6
EcoBoost used in the Ford F-150 pickup, the company said on a
separate page of its website.

Deliveries of the Focus surged 40 percent in the U.S. last
year to 245,922, topping General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Cruze
and Hyundai Motor Co.’s Elantra, according to researcher
Autodata Corp. The Focus was the third-best selling compact
behind Honda Motor Co.’s Civic and Toyota Motor Corp.’s Corolla.

The Associated Press reported Ford’s plans for the Ohio
plant yesterday. Ford fell 3 percent to $12.60 at the close in
New York.